Month: February 2023

But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” [Genesis 3:4-5]. Foreword In late January 2020, as the pandemic was beginning to raise its ugly head, our weekly Carolina Arbors Bible Study faced an existential problem. Governmental edicts and common sense had combined to bar our in-person gatherings. During the previous four years, some 25 or more of us had joined our heads and our hearts on Wednesdays. We had laughed together and cried together, prayed together, and pored over sacred scripture together. In…

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah” [Matthew 17:1-4]. Once or twice a year, from the mid-1960s through the end of the century, Dad would pull out the old black and…

So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift [Matthew 5:23-24]. For the past several weeks, the Gospel readings assigned by the Revised Common Lectionary have come from Matthew’s narration of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. The text moves from the Beatitudes [5:1-11] to last week’s discussion of salt and light. This week’s reading, Matthew 5:21-37 [Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany, Year A] is often referred to by scholars as “the Antitheses.” Repeated…

You are the salt of the earth [Matthew 5:13]. As rich as the English language is, it is peppered with contextual difficulties. For example, in our language, the word for the second person pronoun— “you”—is the same for both the singular and the plural. That’s, of course, why long ago, Southerners came up with “y’all” and some folks from New Jersey invented “yous guys.” As y’all know, I don’t do New Testament Greek. But those who do advise that the Greek language easily distinguishes between the singular and the plural in its use of the second person pronoun. That’s certainly true for Latin, with which I’m reasonably familiar. In Latin,…